may
I kill U?
Cycle
cop turns psychopath
Bicycling
beat bobby Baz Vartis (Kevin Bishop) is a well-meaning but ineffectual
community policeman with the kind of mother, Bernice (Frances Barber), Norman Bates would find
it tough to love. Longing for
adventure, for action, he dreams of detective work, of shooting it out with
real bad guys but is relegated to pounding the streets on his bike and
attending community meetings in the company of his formidable partner, WPC Val
Stone (Hayley-Marie Axe).
On
the virtual eve of 2011’s London Riots, during a scuffle with some local thugs,
Baz sustains a personality-changing head injury, turning the mild-mannered
cycle cop into a psychopath. As
London descends into anarchy, Baz hits the streets, intent on dealing out his
own brand of justice, starting with the thug who caused his head injury whose
brutal murder he films on his helmet-cam, posting the anonymous footage on
social networking sites and becoming an Internet sensation.
Adopting
the online persona @N4cethelaw, Baz soon finds his anonymous vigilantism has turned him
into a folk hero and he embarks on his own personal crusade, murdering the
lawbreakers who cross his path regardless of their crime; wife beaters, Eastern
European sex traffickers, elderly shoplifters, all are equal under the law
according to Baz and deserve to die.
But with Val getting suspicious, Bernice becoming increasingly unhinged
and petty thief Seth (Jack Doolan) out for revenge, time may be running
out for our vigilante hero…
A
film that’s as
schizophrenic as its lead character, writer/director Stuart Urban’s (Preaching To The
Perverted, Revelation) black comedy may I kill U? may be riding the zeitgeist as it touches on civil
disorder, middle class paranoia, Internet celebrity and happy slapping videos
but its abrupt lurches in tone from slapstick comedy to splattery gore and
brutal violence are jarring, almost as if the Carry On... team were remaking Taxi
Driver or Death
Wish. It's not as funny as it thinks it is,
its TV sitcom look and feel (particularly with the onscreen tweets and texts)
calling to mind the short-lived mediocrity of Pete Versus Life (a TV sitcom in which Rafe
Spall’s doofus sports reporter’s life is punctuated by football
commentary). However this British
coziness is somewhat at odds with the explicit violence (particularly that
first head bashing) of Baz’s mission. The performances are good,
particularly Kevin Bishop who’s more dipstick than Dexter, but may I kill U? feels like it probably
started out much darker, particularly in Baz’s quasi-incestuous mother/son
relationship, before being toned down for public consumption though its
inclusion of a trafficked Eastern European woman (beautiful Polish actress
Kasia Koleczek) as a mute, submissive romantic interest for Baz and the film’s
hysterical, middle class (verging on Daily Mail reader) fear of the underclass
do leave a nasty taste in the mouth. With the over-rated Sightseers already in cinemas, it’s
inevitable the two will be compared.
While neither as funny or accomplished, may i kill U? may be the more pertinent
of the two.
David Watson
Directed by:
Written by:
Produced by:
Starring:
Genres:
Comedy, Horror,
Thriller
Language:
English
Runtime:
1 hour 27 minutes
Certificate:
15
Year
2012
UK Cinema Release Date:
Friday 11th January 2013
Rating:
2/5
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